This invention is generally concerned with letter processing apparatus including an inking cartridge and more particularly with a mailing machine including a removably mountable, disposable inking cartridge.
This Application is one of the following three (3) related, concurrently filed, U.S. Patent Applications filed by the same inventor, i.e. David Privin, and assigned to the same assignee: Ser. No. 07/703,316 for a Mailing Machine Having A Disposable Inking Cartridge, (Assignee file C-789); Ser. No. 07/703,315 for an Inking Cartridge, (Assignee file (C-790); and Ser. No. 07/703,306, for a Mailing Machine Including Movable Inking Cartridge, (Assignee file C-791), now U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,700.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,083 for a Disposable Inking Cartridge issued Apr. 3, 1984 to Clinton E. Hopper and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, there is disclosed a disposable inking cartridge which is constructed and arranged to be removably connected to a mailing machine. The inking cartridge includes an ink roller, known in the art as a reservoir roller. The mailing machine includes a rotary postage printing drum and includes an ink impregnated roller known in the art as a transfer roller. The reservoir roller is disposed in rolling engagement with the mailing machine's transfer roller when the cartridge is connected to the mailing machine. And, when the mailing machine is operated, the printing drum rotates into engagement with the transfer roller for transferring ink from the reservoir roller to the transfer roller, and from the transfer roller to the printing drum.
Since the ink transfer roller is a component of the mailing machine, when the inking cartridge is replaced to provide a new reservoir roller, old residual ink carried by the ink transfer roller is mixed with ink from the new reservoir roller when it is transferred to the printing drum. Accordingly, the Hopper inking system is limited to providing replacement inking cartridges having reservoir rollers which are impregnated with the same color of ink as previously used in the system. Further, the Hopper inking system is generally limited to utilization of an ink having the same chemical formula as the ink previously used in the system, in order preclude the possibility of a chemical reaction between new reservoir roller ink and the old transfer roller ink. Moreover, the Hopper inking system does not account for aging, or wear and tear, of the ink transfer roller, which may result in unevenly transferring ink to the printing drum, or smearing ink thereon, whether or not a new reservoir roller is provided. And, customers have been found to be disappointed when a new reservoir roller is provided, due to not receiving an immediate significant enhancement of the quality of printing provided by the printing drum, inasmuch as the volume of residual ink impregnating the transfer roller is normally substantially reduced prior to the provision of the new reservoir roller and is only gradually increased thereafter as the new reservoir roller is used.
Accordingly:
an object of the invention is to provide an improved inking system for use in letter processing apparatus; PA1 another object is to provide a disposable inking cartridge removably mountable in a mailing machine; PA1 another object is to provide a disposable inking cartridge which includes both a reservoir roller and a transfer roller; and PA1 yet another object is to provide a mailing machine including a removably mountable inking cartridge.